<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
It is derived from the sentence <em>idh andhara qauma-hu bil Ahqaf-i</em> of
verse 21.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
It is determined by an historical event that has been mentioned in vv.
29-32. This incident of the visit of the jinn and their going back
after listening to the Qur'an had occurred, according to agreed
traditions of the <em>Hadith</em> and biographical literature, at the time when
the Holy Prophet had halted at Makkah during his return journey from
Ta'if to Makkah. And according to all authentic historical traditions
he had gone to Ta'if three years before the <em>Hijrah</em>; therefore it is
determined that this Surah was sent down towards the end of the 10th
year or in the early part of the 11th year of the Prophethood.
</p>
<h2>Historical Background</h2>
<p>
The 10th year of the Prophethood was a year of extreme persecution and
distress in the Holy prophet's life. The Quraish and the other tribes
had continued their boycott of the Bani Hashim and the Muslims for
three years and the Holy Prophet and the people of his family and
Companions lay besieged in Shi'b Abi Talib. The Quraish had blocked up
this locality from every side so that no supplies of any kind could
reach the besieged people. Only during the Hajj season they were
allowed to come out and buy some articles of necessity. But even at
that time whenever Abu Lahab noticed any of them approaching the
market place or a trading caravan he would call out to the merchants
exhorting them to announce forbidding rates of their articles for them,
and would pledge that he himself would buy those articles so that they
did not suffer any loss. This boycott which continued uninterrupted
for three years had broken the back of the Muslims and the Bani
Hashim; so much so that at times they were even forced to eat grass
and the leaves of trees. 
</p>
<p>
At last, when the siege was lifted this year,
Abu Talib, the Holy Prophet's uncle, who had been shielding him for
ten long years, died, and hardly a month later his wife, Hadrat
Khadijah, who had been a source of peace and consolation for him ever
since the beginning of the call, also passed away. Because of these
tragic incidents, which closely followed each other, the Holy Prophet
used to refer to this year as the year of sorrow and grief. 
</p>
<p>
After the
death of Hadart Khadijah and Abu Talib the disbelievers of Makkah
became even bolder against the Holy Prophet. They started treating him
even more harshly. So much so that it became difficult for him to step
out of his house. Of these days Ibn Hisham has related the incident
that a Quraish scoundrel one day threw dust at him openly in the
street. 
</p>
<p>
At last, the Holy Prophet left for Ta'if with the intention
that he should invite the Bani Thaqif to Islam, for even if they did
not accept Islam, they might at least be persuaded to allow him to
work for his mission peacefully. He did not have the facility of any
conveyance at that time, and traveled all the way to Ta'if on foot.
According to some traditions, he had gone there alone, but according
to others, he was accompanied by Zaid bin Harithah. He stayed at Ta'if
for a few days, and approached each of the chiefs and nobles of the
Bani Thaqif and talked to him about his mission. But not only they
refused to listen to him, but plainly gave him the notice that he
should leave their city, for they feared that his preaching might
"spoil" their younger generation. Thus, he was compelled to leave
Ta'if. When he was leaving the city, the chiefs of Thaqif set their
slaves and scoundrels behind him, who went on crying at him, abusing
him and petting him with stones for a long way from either side of the
road till he became broken down with wounds and his shoes were filled
with blood. Wearied and exhausted he took shelter in the shade of the
wall of a garden outside Ta'if, and prayed: 
</p>
<p>
"O God, to Thee I complain
of my weakness, little resource, and lowliness before men. O Most
Merciful, Thou art the Lord of the weak, and Thou art my Lord. To whom
wilt Thou confide me? To one afar who will misuse me?Or to an enemy to
whom Thou hast given power over me?If Thou art not angry with me I
care not. Thy favor is more wide for me. I take refuge in the light
of Thy countenance by which the darkness is illumined, and the things
of this world and the next are rightly ordered, lest Thy anger descend
upon me or Thy wrath light upon me. It is for Thee to be satisfied
until Thou art well pleased. There is no power and no might save in
Thee." (Ibn Hisham:A. Guillaume's Translation, p. 193). 
</p>
<p>
Grieved and
heart broken when he returned and reached near Qarn al-Manazil, he
felt as though the sky was overcast by clouds. He looked up and saw
Gabriel in front of him, who called out:"Allah has heard the way your
people have responded. He has, therefore, sent this angel incharge of
the mountains. You may command him as you please." Then the angel of
the mountains greeted him and submitted :"If you like I would overturn
the mountains from either side upon these people." The Holy Prophet
replied : "No, but I expect that Allah will create from their seed
those who will worship none but Allah, the One." (Bukhari, <em>Dhikr al
Mala'ikah</em>; Muslim: <em>Kitab al-Maghazi</em>; Nasa'i :<em>Al-Bauth</em>). 
</p>
<p>
After this he
went to stay for a few days at Makkah, perplexed as to how he would
face the people of Makkah, who, he thought, would be still further
emboldened against him after hearing what had happened at Ta'if. It
was here that one night when he was reciting the Qur'an in the Prayer,
a group of the jinn happened to pass by and listened to the Qur'an,
believed in it, and returned to their people to preach Islam. Thus,
Allah gave His Prophet the good news that if the men were running away
from his invitation, there were many of the jinn, who had become its
believers, and they were spreading his message among their own kind.
</p>
<h2>Subject Matter and Topics</h2>
<p>
Such were the conditions when this Surah was
sent down. Anyone who keeps this background in view, on the one hand,
and studies this Surah, on the other, will have no doubt left in his
mind that this is not at all the composition of Muhammad (upon whom be
Allah's peace), but "a Revelation from the All Mighty, All Wise
Allah." For nowhere in this Surah, from the beginning to the end, does
one find even a tinge of the human feelings and reactions, which are
naturally produced in a man who is passing through such hard
conditions. Had it been the word of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's
peace) whom the occurrence of personal griefs one after the other and
the countless and the recent bitter experience at Ta'if had caused
extreme anguish and distress, it would have reflected in some degree
the state of the mind of the man who was the subject of these
afflictions and griefs. Consider the prayer that we have cited above:
it contains his own language its every word is saturated with the
feelings that he had at the time. But this Surah which was sent down
precisely in the same period and was recited even by him under the
same conditions, is absolutely free from every sign or trace of the
time. 
</p>
<p>
The subject matter of the Surah is to warn the disbelievers of
the errors in which they were involved, and also resisted arrogantly,
and were condemning the man who was trying to redeem them. They
regarded the world as a useless and purposeless place where they were
not answerable to anyone. They thought that invitation to <em>Tauhid</em> was
false and stuck to the belief that their own deities were actually the
associates of Allah. They were not inclined to believe that the Qur'an
was the Word of the Lord of the worlds. They had a strange erroneous
concept of apostleship on the basis of which they were proposing
strange criteria of judging the Holy Prophet's claim to it. In their
estimation one great proof of Islam's not being based on the truth was
that their elders and important chiefs of the tribes and so called
leaders of their nation were not accepting it and only a few young men,
and some poor folks and some slaves had affirmed faith in it. They
thought that Resurrection and life after death and the rewards and
punishments of the Hereafter were fabrications whose occurrence was
absolutely out of the question. 
</p>
<p>
In this Surah each of these
misconceptions has been refuted in a brief but rational way, and the
disbelievers have been warned that if they would reject the invitation
of the Qur'an and the Prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom
be Allah's peace) by prejudice and stubbornness instead of trying to
understand its truth rationally, they would only be preparing for
their own doom.
</p>

